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Fear of Falling in the Elderly
Branson, M., Fiore, J., and Lenio, E. (2004). Decreasing The Fear of Falling in Older Adults Through Physical Therapy Interventions: Exercise and Education. Arizona School of Health Sciences Doctoral Study and Dissertation.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of an exercise program or an education program or a program that uses both exercise and education on the Fear of Falling (FOF) among community-dwelling, older adults. Five separate assessment tools were incorporated into the study and were the dependent variables: the Activities-specific Balance Confidence Scale (ABC), the Maximal Activity Score portion (MAS) of the Human Activity Profile (HAP), the Adjusted Activity Score portion (AAS) of the Human Activity Profile (HAP), the physical functioning portion (PF) of the SF-36, and the role limitations from physical functioning portion (RLPF) of the SF-36.

Subjects were assigned to one of three groups that were given one of three interventions. The three interventions included participation in a group exercise program, a group education program, and a combination of a group exercise and education program. Means and standard deviations were calculated for each dependent variable according to intervention and according to pretest and posttest. For each dependent variable, a Friedman two-analysis of variance for nonparametric data was calculated to determine changes from the pretest to the posttest for each intervention. For each of the outcome measures the differences from the pretest to the posttest were calculated for each intervention. A Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance for nonparametric data was calculated to determine the differences between interventions. Any use of the three intervention programs (the exercise program, the education program, or the program used a combination of exercise and education) did not reduce the fear of falling as measured with the dependent variables that were used in this study.

This study should be repeated using with a sample that was not considered independent and that lived in an assistive-living facility. Studies are needed to determine if subjects are at increase risk or increased odds for falling as a result of low scores on the different measures used to determine fear of falling. Studies are needed to determine if the dependent variables are sensitive and specific in determining fear of falling. More studies need to be conducted to determine if functional tools may be more sensitive than questionnaires when determining fear of falling.